Sorry guys this took me longer than I expected & I don't know about y'all but I've been having some issues with the site! I had this update checked & ready to post but something happened and I lost all my corrections and had to start over, ANYWAY... I sure do miss our gals on Mondays! At least I still have SVU & Fringe! Thanks for hanging in there & let me know what you guys are thinking! :)

Chapter 21

Jane woke up to the Boston Orchestra booming in her head. Good Lord, how much did she drink last night? And where was she? Sitting up, she looked around and breathed a sigh of relief- she was in her own bed. But she was not alone. She saw the lump under the covers, but could not make anything else out. The person had pulled the covers over their head. She fell back against the mattress and closed her eyes. What had she gotten herself into? This had happened to her before, but it was a very long time ago. And that had been a simple misunderstanding. Could she get that lucky again? Who was she kidding? The only luck she had right now, was bad. Well, she had to do it. Reaching out, she poked the person under the covers.

"Hey. You need to get out of my bed."

Maura felt herself moving towards consciousness and she didn't like it. It seemed way too early. She moved the cover down and let her eyes adjust and the room was still dark. She still had a few hours.

"I said you need to get out of my bed. If you don't, I will force you."

Did Maura hear Jane correctly? She was going to force her out of the bed?

"Jane, why on earth would you do that?"

"Maura?"

Jane had never been so relieved to hear her friend's voice.

"Yes, it's me, Jane. Why are you awake? It's too early. Go back to sleep."

Jane had to get some aspirin. Now she could breathe knowing that it was Maura. She didn't remember how they had gotten here. Or how Maura found her. She remembered being at the bar and dancing, that was the last thing. She could talk to Maura later. She took the aspirin and headed back to her room. There were still a few hours of darkness, so she climbed back in and fell asleep.

Maura was awakened by a whine. Not a human one, but a canine. She looked down at the little white dog and realized she probably needed to go out. Maura didn't want her to wake Jane, so she got up and headed towards the living room. She knew where the leash and baggies were kept, but she had to find the keys and something to put on her feet. Her three inch Jimmy Choo's were not appropriate with this outfit. She spotted a pair of running shoes and slipped them on. Now she had to find the keys because she would not leave the front door of Jane's apartment unlocked. Finding them, she hooked the leash to Joe Friday's collar. The dog was clearly confused as to why Jane did not get up to walk her.

"Your mommy has a headache. So, I will walk you this morning."

Maura chuckled as the little dog wagged her tail. She almost seemed to know exactly what Maura was saying. They made their way downstairs and out the door. Luckily Jane only lived a few blocks from the park. The little dog took care of her business and Maura followed behind. This was a nice morning to be walking the dog. She could use these extra minutes to think about what she would say to Jane. Maura doubted that Jane would remember anything from the night before, so she would have to start from the beginning. Just how far back would depend on Jane.

Jane awoke from another nightmare. This one was new and definitely not her usual. Her sleep was invaded a lot by Hoyt. Always in different situations but always ending the same. Not this time, though. This dream was about Hoyt, but instead of having her- he had Maura. She sat up and looked around. Had Maura not been here with her? She vaguely remembered Maura being here but now she did not see her.

"Maura?"

Jane climbed out of the bed and walked into the bathroom. Still no sign of her friend.

"Hey, Maura, are you here?"

The only thing that met Jane, was silence. Had she just imagined Maura being here this morning? No, she could not have imagined that. She made a walk through of her entire apartment, but no Maura. What the hell was going on? She heard her phone ringing, but could not tell where it was coming from. The kitchen table. She dashed to answer it before whoever hung up. It was still inside her purse. This was getting stranger by the minute.

"Rizzoli." Her short retort was barked into the phone.

Silence.

"Hello? This is Jane Rizzoli."

"Janie?"

"Tommy, is that you?"

"Yeah, sis, are you OK?"

Jane wanted to say no, but she decided to go with the next best thing. She could ignore it.

"What's up, Tommy? It's kind of early for you to be calling."

"I know, Janie, but I was worried about you. Things were crazy last night and I needed to make sure you were OK."

"Crazy how?"

"Seriously, Janie? You don't remember?"

Well she was having a hard time remembering several things. What else had she missed from yesterday?

"Why don't you just fill me in, Tommy. I'm not so sure what happened and what didn't, at this point."

"OK, Janie."

Jane felt the pause in her brother's words. What had happened yesterday? And why was he so hesitant to tell her? Had she done something stupid? Tommy surprised her when his words started.

"I came by to pick you up yesterday. You said you needed to tell Frankie goodbye and I didn't want you going alone. You were in your black dress and seemed to be OK, at first. We didn't really talk because I know how you get when you're sad. The closer we got to Ma and Pop's, you started to freak out. You wanted me to take you to a bar. I didn't want to Janie, but you pulled your gun on me."

"Oh my God, Tommy, I'm so sorry."

"Hey, I should be the one that's sorry. I dumped you out and headed towards the house."

"No, Tommy, don't apologize for that. I was obviously being crazy."

"Hey, wait a minute, I have to finish. Just let me finish, Jane."

Jane knew her brother was being serious. He never called her Jane unless he was being serious.

"OK, Tommy, finish."

"When I got to the house, everyone was standing there being very quiet then I found out why. They were having words in the bedroom. Your friend was letting Ma have it and when she found out what had happened with you, she let me have it too. She's something else, Janie."

"What do you mean, Tommy? What was she saying to Ma? I mean... You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do, Jane. She told her she hoped she lived a miserable life. That she was a pathetic bully. And she would not let her call you names anymore. I don't know what else would have been said if I hadn't walked in when I did."

Jane stood there thinking about her friend. Maura had called someone a name? And told them she hoped they were miserable? That was so unlike her friend. She knew Maura had said those things because of her. It had only been a few months since she had told her she had her back and Jane had seen the evidence of that, especially the last few days. She was so lucky to have her and she knew it.

"Tommy, did Maura leave?"

"Yeah, she practically forced me to give her my keys. Said she was going to pick you up and that I never should have left you like that."

Oh no, so Maura had been here.

"I need to go, Tommy."

"Wait, Janie, there's one more thing."

"What?"

"Pop left Ma last night."

Well Angela deserved that one! I know some of you don't like the fact Angela is such a B**** but I had this idea and went with it. She's a lot more insane in the books and I wanted a different antagonist than Hoyt so... Let me know!